Following your thesis being sent for examination, your examiners will have been asked to complete the examination within 2 months. However, this is dependent on individual examiners and their availability.
- An oral examination is a compulsory part of the examination for a doctoral degree.
- You may be required to undergo an oral examination if you have submitted a thesis for a research masters degree.
- The internal examiner is responsible for making arrangements for the oral examination and will advise you of the date, time and venue.
- If you do not have an internal examiner, the chairperson will be responsible for making arrangements for the oral examination.
- Your supervisor is expected to be available at the time of the oral examination, but will not be present.
- An independent chairperson will be present at the oral examination. The role of the chairperson can be found in Appendix C of the Code of Practice for Assessment of Research Degree Theses.
- There are no rules governing the length of an oral examination. The examiners have discretion to make the examination as long or as short as they think necessary.
- During the oral examination, you may be questioned on any aspect of your thesis, and also on the general field within which the subject of your thesis lies. You will be given every opportunity to defend your thesis.
- Further information on the oral examination can be found on the oral examination webpages.
Conclusion of the examination process
- The examiners will submit their final recommendation, and a list of any corrections, to Research Student Administration.
- An email confirming your result, together with a copy of the examination reports and final recommendation will be sent to your University and personal email addresses.
- A range of recommendations are open to the examiners. You may be asked to make corrections or revisions to your thesis and if so, the examiners’ report forms will provide details of these. You may also be given information at the oral examination about the required corrections or revisions.
- If the corrections required are unclear, you should consult with your supervisor who will liaise with the examiners on your behalf.
- In the case of a “revise and resubmit” recommendation, there will be a resubmission fee and a full further examination will take place.
- For doctoral degrees you will be required to attend a second oral examination after the resubmission. You may be required to attend an oral examination if you have submitted a masters thesis.
- Further information on the range of recommendations and the timeframes to complete and submit corrections can be found on the examination outcome webpage.